My Mailbox Experiment ~ One Week’s Worth of Waste #gogreen

A couple of weeks ago, I was going through a stack of mail and realized that by the time I had tossed away the mailing envelopes along with the papers inside, all the “junk mail” fliers, and unrequested catalogs – my trash can was overflowing! Just from one day’s worth of mail. What a waste of trees! I decided to step up my recycling efforts to include the odds and ends from my mailbox.

I also decided to do a little experiment and not throw away any mail for one week. I went through my daily mail as usual, but instead of trashing the papers and envelopes I no longer needed, I kept it together in a box. Less than one week later, the box was overflowing:

And to think all this time I had been just throwing it all away instead of simply setting it aside to be recycled. I never realized just how much paper I was thoughtlessly discarding on a daily basis. It really adds up fast!

My simple solution to the problem? I now keep a recyclable cardboard box close to my mail. As I go through the mail, I put the pieces I don’t want into the box. Once the box is full, it’s all ready to be taken to the recycling bin. I have found that empty cereal boxes and shoe boxes are the perfect size for the job.

Do you recycle your discarded mail? Feel free to share your thoughts and tips about recycling around the house in the comments.

Reader Interactions

Comments

I do recycle my junk mail. I also call any company that sends us a catalog and ask to be removed from the mailing list, since we never buy things from catalogs. We are also on the list not to receive unsolicited credit card offers, so I think that helps to cut down on our junk mail.

Calling the companies is a good idea. I have no idea how I get on some of these lists and they send out regular catalogs and I NEVER buy from them. You’d think they’d get the hint and take me off the list. Thanks for your comment!

We have a HUGE recycling bin from the city out by our garage. I keep a small trash can next to our regular garbage can that we put recyclable things in. We’ve cut way down on how much we throw away (it also helps that we use cloth diapers!). We also have a paper shredder and use it on pieces of mail that have personal info on them.

You must be older than me, 20 years ago I was just a kid and unfortunately had not learned much about recycling. That’s great you have been recycling for such a long time!

And just FYI, I did recycle paper and many other materials before I wrote this blog post. This blog post (as evidenced in the title) was about an experiment I did saving only junk mail to see how much it added up for a week. As you can see from my pictures, it really added up. I wanted to show my readers how even just a little bit of recycling can end up being a lot. Thanks for your comment, it sounded a bit rude and sarcastic, but I decided to respond anyway. -Nicole

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